Beautiful
by averygirl
Summary: A chance encounter with a highly talkative stranger on a rainy, Parisian street changes life for Steffy Forrester in ways she never could have foreseen. It sounds romantic, right? Not so fast. The person she meets isn't her soulmate but rather someone who becomes a true blue friend and leads her towards her destiny! Will eventually contain a Steffy/Jasper Jacks romance. REPOST.
1. Steffy Quits

**Beautiful**

**Main Pairing:** Steffy Forrester and Jasper "Jax" Jacks

**Chapter 1: Steffy Quits**

_**Late January 2014  
>Paris, France<strong>_

"Steffy, come back here!" Taylor Forrester called out to her daughter as Steffy strode briskly down the hall. Her long, lean legs moved with purpose and power as she stomped towards the office at the end of the long hallway.

"Stop. _Please!"_ Taylor pleaded. Steffy ignored her mother as she finally pushed back the door to the office and stepped inside; giving the four walls a cursory look. The office was small, dank and cramped – the tiniest room in the building, actually. It wasn't as bad as say, being stuck in the basement, of course, but the fact that her father was willing to stick her in here at all said volumes about how little regard he had for her feelings and contributions to not only the company, but the family too.

_Well, I'm done with him;_ she thought and reached for the big white plastic carton that she received her mail in every morning. She immediately began filling it up with whatever she could grasp with her two small, shaking hands. She dumped her design book in with the lot. The same design book that was chockfull of sketches she had slaved over for months. Designs that she had stupidly thought her father might appreciate - or _gasp!,_ even like.

_I'm done with him. I'm done with him,_ she chanted in her head as she slammed her purse down on top of the overflowing box of her belongings. She turned to face the doorway. Taylor was standing there, leaning against the frame, panting a bit after the chase, but mostly just looking terribly upset.

"Steffy-"

"Don't. I'm done, Mom. I'm done with Dad. Done trying to please him when it will just never, ever be enough."

"Steffy, don't be that way. Today was unfortunate, yes, but he didn't say that your designs were awful. He just said that –"

"They were 'outrageous to the point of being almost offensive'. And that was the nicest thing he said. I worked hard on these. I wanted to impress him so much… He critiqued the hell out of my work in front of a room full of his peons and then said I should go back to the drawing board. That maybe I'm just 'rusty'. The worst part? He mentioned Hope. He praised her; said what monstrous revenue her 'classically stylish' heap of clothes are bringing in. He said I might want to take a page from her design book, Mom!"

"He wasn't trying to make you feel bad, Steffy."

"No, he was just being himself. He's a jerk. And I'm done trying to placate him, done trying to win his love when he doesn't appreciate me at all. "

"Steffy, your father loves you. You know he does. Don't doubt that because of one bad review."

"It's not just that, Mom. The way he came down on my presentation today was really just the tip of the iceberg on the shit he's pulled over the years." Steffy shifted the box onto her slim hip. She looked at her mother tersely. "I meant it when I told him I quit Forrester. I don't want to work at a company where I'm not respected. And as for Dad, I meant it too when I called him an 'asshole' in front of his board members. I am sorry but I just can't forgive him for humiliating me that way, at least not right now. I can only take so much crap before I cry 'uncle'. I can't and won't forgive him for everything he does, the way you always have."

Taylor pushed a strand of her long, dark hair behind her ear and pursed her lips. She sighed softly, splaying her hands in front of her full breasts. "Steffy, you're angry right now. You're incredibly volatile. You do need to take a few days off to just think things over. You very well can end up changing your mind though. Don't burn your bridges here completely."

"I didn't burn them, Mom. Dad did." Steffy then held the box out in front of her and moved to the door. "I'll see you later."

Taylor sighed again but nodded and stepped aside. "I love you, honey."

"I love you too, Mom," Steffy said quietly. "But I think we all deserve better than what Dad gives us. Especially you."

Steffy then walked down the hall, holding her head as high as she could, as she walked out of Forrester International for what she vowed was the very last time.

XoXoXo

Rain was coming down in thick sheets as Steffy emerged from the International building a minute later. She wriggled deeper into her thick coat and ducked immediately back under the eaves as huge, freezing raindrops splattered her face. Of all the days not to have her car with her, she mused darkly. It was hard to make a dramatic exit when she was almost immediately hurled back into the building by the torrential weather.

She scanned the street. Taxis zipped by but they all were full to capacity and the drivers didn't so much as give her a second look. She sighed and slumped against the wall.

_Great, just great._ She was apparently marooned here until the rain ceased to fall. Whenever that would be.

She had been standing there for at least three minutes when she heard footsteps approaching. She looked up in time to see a tall, slender woman with short, frizzed up brown hair duck under the eaves beside her. Steffy glared at the woman, not wanting company, but the woman seemed not to notice. She instead huddled deeper into her mink coat and chattered her teeth noisily.

"_Burrrr,"_ the woman said in a decidedly American accent. "I forgot how much the term 'raining cats and dogs' truly applies in this place. I haven't been to Paris in like five years. I only came back because a friend of mine is sort of hanging out here these days. And you know, I had nowhere else to go." She looked at Steffy. "Sorry. I prattle. It's sort of my thing."

Steffy rolled her eyes. "So I noticed."

The woman shifted from foot to foot. "I wish this rain would let up. It's making hell out of my hair."

Steffy sighed. This woman was awfully chatty. And random. She was a bit of a contradiction too. She wore a mink coat and had a huge diamond ring glistened on her finger but underneath the mink, she had on cheap Levi's and a yellow turtleneck you could find at any old Tee-Shirt Barn back in the states. Her tennis shoes were ratty and ugly too.

The woman sighed and tucked her slender arms inside her jacket. She turned on her heel and looked up at the sign on the door. "Forrester International. Well I'll be. I married my dear Simon in a Forrester original gown. It cost an arm and a leg and some other body parts too but it was so beautiful. I felt like a princess that day instead of … well, me."

Steffy looked at the woman again, a little of her annoyance zipping away. "Forrester has some gifted designers, for sure." She wasn't about to admit she had been one of them once upon a time and that the comeback she had tried to stage today had been a huge bust.

"Oh, definitely," the woman said. She peered at Steffy. "You know you look familiar to me, come to think of it."

"I just must have one of those faces."

"No, no I definitely know you from somewhere. I never forget a face. Names, places, yes! But not faces! You're uh –" She tapped her small nose, seemingly in deep thought. She then looked at the building and back at Steffy. "Ohmigod! _Of course._ You're a Forrester. The one who appears in a lot of those tabloids."

Steffy frowned and shook her head. The woman quickly held up a hand. "Don't be upset. Better to be infamous than unrecognizable!" Steffy's eyes widened. "I mean… Well, that doesn't sound so good. I am so clumsy with my words – and feet – sometimes. I'm – I'm Venus. Mostly everyone calls me 'V' though. It's nice to meet you... Steffy? That's your name right?"

"Yeah …" Steffy felt like she was dreaming up this whole encounter. It was so surreal. This woman was the epitome of flighty too.

"Well, Steffy, it's colder than the North Pole in Paris right now and you're standing out here looking lost while your family's all warm and cozy inside so I am guessing, you're not having a good day."

"No, I'm not," Steffy admitted, almost against her own will.

"My day has been kind of hellish too," V said. She leaned back against the wall and watched the rain fall in silence for a moment. "You know I noticed a little café two doors down. If we make a run for it, we can probably grab a table before we die of pneumonia standing out here."

Steffy arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"There are no taxis to be found. We might as well have some coffee and trade war stories, right?"

"Are you by any chance trying to hit –"

"Am I hitting on you?" V blushed. "Uh, no. Not at all. I mean, sure you're beautiful. Okay, I meant that in a strictly hetero way." She blushed still more. "Look, I'm not gay. I'm straight as an arrow actually but I am kind of lonely for company at this moment as my good buddy Jax is in an all-day meeting and I'm having a really crummy day … I just need someone to talk to. As pathetic and creepy as that sounds. And maybe you do too…?"

Steffy sighed. "I don't usually –"

"God. Me either, actually. But it's like karma found the one person who might be having a worse day than me and planted me in their pathway. Maybe we were supposed to meet."

Steffy shrugged. "Hmm …" She looked at V with a thin smile tracing her lips. "Okay, I guess I could stand to have some coffee. Caffeine is kind of a picker-upper, right? Besides, I've actually been in that café you pointed out more than a few times. Their French roast and vanilla bean is probably the best that I've ever tasted."

V smiled. "So we're making a run for it?"

Steffy nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah, I guess so."

**A/N:** Does anyone remember Jax's old friend, Venus? She hasn't been on GH since 1999 but I loved her and she asked me kindly to include her in a story and I said "yes" haha Okay, that's weird but I hope you like "seeing" V after all this time. Lisa Cerasoli was brilliant in the part. Youtube her scenes sometime. You won't regret it!


	2. Trouble With a Capital T

_**Thanks for the comments thus far!**_

**Chapter 2: Trouble with a Capital T**

Venus, or V, as she preferred to be called, chattered all the way to the café. She continued chattering as they waited online to get their beverages and tarts. When she and Steffy reached the front of the line, V then proceeded to chat up the barista in broken French. It was quite a spectacle but Steffy didn't feel inclined to run from V … just yet.

Steffy and V found a table at the back of the café. It was mostly empty today. Few people were stupid enough to try to brave this crazy downpour … except the two of them, apparently.

V took a long sip of her mocha latte as she watched Steffy over the rim of her cup. Steffy felt like she was about to face The Spanish Inquisition and wasn't sure that she was ready for it.

"So, Steffy… Wait, I can call you Steffy, right?"

"That's my name."

"Okay… I just feel like I'm sitting here with royalty or something. I never learned how to act around rich and important people. My dear Simon, he tried so hard, to instill grace and charm in me, and it just never took."

"Tell me about your husband," Steffy said. She didn't know why she asked; she just had to keep up her end of the conversation, she supposed. Although a part of her wondered how this ungainly, flighty woman had come to be her sole companion on this horrible day.

V's eyes dropped to the floor and Steffy sighed. "He's gone, isn't he?" Steffy said. It wasn't exactly a question.

V looked up at her and nodded. Her bottom lip trembled. "Yes. He's been gone for almost two years now. He was a wonderful man, Steffy. We had zero in common honestly, but he loved me beyond reason and treated me like a Princess… I miss him so much." Her eyes filled with tears. "Ugh, look at me. Coming apart at the seams after all this time."

Steffy shifted on her seat. "I think I get it." She twisted her fingers in her paper napkin, beginning to shred it piece by piece. "I lost someone too, someone I really loved… But you probably read about it in those tabloids you seem to like." _Why had she just mentioned that?_ Steffy never liked talking about her kid. It cut too deeply.

V nodded. "Sadly, I did read about your baby in one of those trashy rags. Can I offer my condolences? I mean, when Si died, the last thing I wanted to hear was 'he lived a good life' or 'he's in a better place', or any of those stupid platitudes. It's just-"

"My baby never got to live… Aspen should be here … with me."

Steffy sighed and took a quick sip of her hot coffee before turning back to look at V. "You're right though. Those things are incredibly lame to hear and they mean nothing. I hate pity, people feeling sorry for me, but … I'll take a kind word, I guess. Just because today blew chunks." She didn't know why she had said that, but she felt oddly comfortable somehow with this really strange woman. Maybe their personal losses bonded them in some strange way.

"Then here are my condolences to you, Steffy. I am truly, whole-heartedly sad for your loss."

Steffy bit her lip for a long moment and then nodded. "Me too… And I'm sorry about your husband."

V offered a weak smile. "Well, don't we make quite a pair? Two American strangers sitting in a Parisian café crying in our drinks."

"I'm not crying," Steffy said a bit sharply. The truth was that she didn't cry anymore. She refused to give into the intense need to do so, to curl up into a ball and sob for weeks; hell, months. That was weakness and Steffy loathed weakness.

"Sorry," V said. "I realize that I am the misty-eyed one here. It's just Simon ... Sometimes he gets to me like a little devil on my shoulder, I guess you might say."

Steffy didn't know how to reply. She was saved from having to say anything though when V's cell phone began loudly trilling to the tune of Barbra Streisand and Bryan Adams's former hit song, "I Finally Found Someone". Steffy would bet a hundred dollars that that had been V and Simon's song. Every couple had a song. Steffy and Liam had had a song…

Dammit. She wasn't going to think about _him._ Not at all. He had moved on and she had as well. At least, she was trying her damndest to do so. Sometimes though, in the most inopportune moments, Liam crept into her thoughts. She vividly remembered the feel of his stubbly cheek against her smooth one; the taste of his salty-sweet lips; the way he used to hold her so close; how in certain moments he had actually made her believe that they could last forever…

She shook her head to try to clear her thoughts. V was talking animatedly on the phone. "Jax, it's raining cats and dogs. You don't need to come here just to pick me up. Come on, be serious… Okay, you are serious … Well, since your meeting ended early, you might as well come have some coffee with us… Who's 'us'? My new friend Steffy and me."

Steffy sighed. Would V become her pesky shadow or was there some way to shake the woman off? Just because they had bonded a bit over their painful losses didn't mean that Steffy needed her. Steffy didn't need anyone anymore…

"Yeah we're at this café on Rue de Charonne called 'Pause'. If you want to fight the non-existent traffic and torrential downpour, by all means come… Yes, see you soon."

V disconnected the line. She was beaming now and it wasn't a totally unpleasant sight. "That was Jax, my buddy, my pal... Honestly, I once thought we could be something more but there was always somebody else in the picture, or _somebodies,_ should I say."

So this Jax guy was a player. Steffy had had enough experience with those types that she knew that she didn't want to share a table with one. No, she would make a semi-graceful exit right now.

V watched Steffy stand, open her purse and extract her wallet, laying a few Euros on the tabletop. "Oh no. You're going already? The rain hasn't even let up."

"I know, but I just need to get some things done." Lame, totally lame, but in all honesty, Steffy didn't want to hurt this woman's feelings. She was nice enough. It was just that Steffy really wanted to head home to her flat and forget that today had ever happened.

V sighed. "Can't you stay just a bit longer? Until you actually finish your coffee?"

Steffy sighed, seeing the lonely desperation in the depths of V's hazel eyes. She sunk back down into her chair. "I guess … I could stay until your friend gets here."

"Great," V said. "I'll get us each another tart. How does that sound?"

Steffy nodded. "Okay, I guess." Who cared about the calories or if she got incredibly fat? There was certainly no one around here to appreciate her looks and even if there was, she would never open herself up to that kind of heartbreak. Never again.

V smiled. "Alrighty then." She shot to her feet so fast that she nearly took a header to the floor.

Steffy started to get out of her seat and help but V held up a hand to stop her. "It's fine, really. I was just unlucky enough to be born with two left feet."

Steffy just shrugged. "Well, be careful. The next step is … well you know what they say."

She watched V walk carefully this time to the pastry case and order two more delicious strawberry tarts. Steffy then turned to face the door, longing to be free, when suddenly someone strode into the place, commanding the room, taking long, purposeful strides with his powerful legs. He was tall with impossibly spiky blonde hair and chiseled cheekbones. His blue eyes searched the length of the room, briefly settling on her, before he caught sight of the one he must have come for.

He moved over to V and they exchanged enthusiastic hugs and smiles.

So that was Jax, huh? He was sure handsome as hell with a smile that lit up the whole dank place. She could see why V used to be, or maybe still was, crazy about him. He was possibly the most gorgeous man Steffy had ever laid eyes on. Which meant, simply put; that he was trouble with a capital T.


End file.
